In 1949, when Sam Wanamaker came to London for the first time, he looked for the site of the original Globe and was disappointed not to find a more lasting memorial to one of the greatest playwrights in the world.

In 1970 he founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust, dedicated to the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance. Its work celebrates the fact that the greatest dramatic poet in the English language lived and worked in London and that the cradle of English theatre was on Bankside by the River Thames.

In 1987, building work began on site when the six-metre deep foundations were laid. In 1993, the construction of the Globe Theatre itself began.

Sadly, Sam Wanamaker died on 18 December 1993. At that time, twelve of the fifteen bays had been erected. The plasterwork and thatching began the following year and were completed in 1997.

Shakespeare’s Globe is being developed for the enjoyment and exploration of Shakespeare and his contemporaries in performance. It is a world-class facility on the south bank of the River Thames, opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London.